TAXING CHOICE: The Predatory Politics of Fiscal Discrimination

edited by William F. Shughart II

Taxing behavior deemed "politically incorrect" has long been a convenient way for politicians to fund programs benefiting special interest groups to the public's disadvantage. Government policy toward various foods, drugs, tobacco, and alcohol, for example, has been locked into a regulatory cycle of tax and taboo. In addition to alcohol and tobacco, airline tickets, long-distance telephone calls, soft drinks, margarine, and even fishing gear have been subject to selective excise taxation. Do such selective taxes against certain products and non-invasive behaviors represent ominous trends easily extended into other facets of people's lives? If smoking and drinking are subject to special taxation, will eating fatty foods and sunbathing be next? This book shows how excise taxes are less about revenue raising and re instead more about controlling personal behaviors and limiting individual choice. Shughart has produced a work of great interest to economists, policy makers, historians, sociologists, or anyone who pays taxes!